Metro working on farecard machine issue

Farecard machines used to add value to SmartTrip cards in Metrorail stations didn't allow riders to add employer SmartBenefits Wednesday morning, and Metro officials are trying to fix the problem before the afternoon rush, a Metro spokesman said.

The outage occured on the first day of the month, when many riders expect to pick up their fares for the next 30 days.

"It's a technical issue that we're trying to find the source of," said Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff. The machines only allowed SmartTrip users to add cash.

Reader S. Smith wrote Dr. Gridlock to say that at Grosvenor, small, handwritten signs were taped to the fare machines telling users to try again later. "At Farragut North, the station manager saw me attempting to add benefits and told me to try after the morning rush hour ended," he wrote.

His wife had to add cash, even though she had benefits from her employer awaiting. Smith noted that many riders who rely on SmartBenefits don't carry cash, and worried some wouldn't be able to ride.

Earlier post.

Farecard machines used to add value to SmarTrip cards in Metrorail stations didn't work Wednesday morning, and Metro officials are trying to fix the problem before the afternoon rush, a Metro spokesman said.

Metro's new slogan should be "Same Crappy Service: 20% higher fares". Wonder how many more times they'll have to raise fares before anything gets fixed. Every single WMATA bum oughta be fired and replaced with people who have active neurons in their heads.